What is it exactly?

My water broke on August 1, 2012. I was 12 weeks pregnant. This is called Preterm Premature Rupture of Membranes, or pPROM. This happens more often then you would think, but very rarely does it happen this early. The statistics are very bad, but also very limited. Most doctors encourage moms to terminate since the fetus has such a low chance of developing correctly. We were not able, nor would we ever terminate since this was a twin pregnancy. Twin A was rupture, and we were told that baby would have less then a 1% chance of survival. Twin B was also at risk. With the water ruptured, I could get an infection within hours and we would have to deliver to keep me from going septic. Twin B only had a 5% chance of survival. 80% of babies pass in the first 72 hours of pPROM, another 10% within the first 8 days, and the other 9+% at some point after that. Even if twin A could hold on until viability,(24 weeks gestation) the chances of survival were next to nothing since he would not be developed. The amniotic fluid does many things for the baby. It keeps pressure off of them so they can form their bones correctly. The baby swallows the fluid and gets the digestive system prepped and ready for food. It also is inhaled and exhaled to help strengthen the lungs and helps the tiny air sacks in the lungs to form. If there is not enough fluid, the lungs cannot form correctly, and the baby is not able to breath once they are born. The lungs are the biggest concern with pPROM. We were lucky to make it past the first 72 hours, then the first 8 days, and many more weeks after that. We never got much fluid back, but both babies looked good at every ultrasound. Twin A was a boy, and we named him Jacob Bradley. Twin B was a girl and we named her Juliet Marie. They were growing and thriving every week, and we began to breath a sigh of relief, as we made it closer, then past 24 weeks.